Madeworthy May/Jun 2020 by Madeworthy Magazine

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Letter from Madeworthy Victoria Wise // Lee Virden Geurkink Issue 17 | The Issue That Almost Wasn’t | May/Jun 2020

P U B L I S H E R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Wise E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lee Virden Geurkink A S S O C I A T E P U B L I S H E R . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Kieta ILL U S T R A T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trish Wise L E A D D E S I G N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sovic Creative C O V E R D E S I G N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria Wise C O N T R I B UTI N G W R I T E R S Sarah Angle

Shilo Urban

Jennifer Kieta

Angela Weaver

Jodie Miears

William Wise

Julie K. Rhodes

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Shannon Lange Jodie Miears, Reverie Photo Co.

Madeworthy Magazine is an extension of Tanglewood Moms, LLC., and serves to tell community stories for a family audience. For website and magazine advertising opportunities, please contact: Victoria@MadeworthyMedia.com Looking for more copies Madeworthy Magazine? You can subscribe at TanglewoodMoms.com for free, or pick up copies at Central Market in Fort Worth or Whole Foods in the Waterside shopping center.

Dear Readers, What an interesting time this is! Producing a magazine while sheltering in place has challenged our whole team, but we think we have succeeded admirably. We are affectionately calling this issue of Madeworthy “The Issue That Almost Wasn’t.” Originally, we had imagined that the May/June 2020 issue would be our Travel and Adventure issue. We planned on bringing you ideas for incredible adventures with your family, memories of study abroad programs that influenced the students’ lives, and gorgeous photos of exotic locations. And then the global coronavirus pandemic hit. What’s that old proverb? “Man plans, and God laughs?” We planned, and our plans were laughed at. Fortunately, the Madeworthy staff is nothing if not spunky. After all, we created a print magazine when most publications were going digital with no more than a dream and a lot of grit and determination! So we changed course. We decided that this issue would be full of hope and humor to combat the omnipresent news, which seems to get more dire with each passing day. Our writers, thank goodness, responded with their usual enthusiasm and made this issue into one of which we are extremely proud. It should surprise no one that our city is full of stories

of kindness and courage during these trying times. Fort Worth is as strong as its citizens make it, and we are constantly amazed at how individuals and businesses are pulling together to help those in need. From feeding healthcare workers to sewing masks for at-risk people, from organizing neighborhood scavenger hunts to hosting Zoom meetings for children who miss their friends, from coordinating online concerts to donating to funds that support local artists and hospitality workers, the people of Fort Worth have banded together to help each other through. There are a lot of rumors and misinformation out there concerning the coronavirus and COVID-19. Fort Worth’s own University of North Texas Health Science Center is acting as Fort Worth’s source for local information on the coronavirus pandemic. Knowledge is our greatest tool in the fight to stay healthy! Madeworthy was created to shine a spotlight on the great things that happen every day in our community. We are continually inspired by the courage, the hope, and the humor of the people of Fort Worth. We are grateful to our advertisers who have stuck with us despite the uncertainty within their own businesses. If you like Madeworthy, please support these businesses. They are the reason we are able to continue! Special thanks go out to Joe T. Garcia’s, Bonnell’s, BREWED, Ellerbe Fine Foods, and Chimy’s for including copies in their curbside orders. We would also like to thank our writers for changing horses in midstream, as it were. This issue wouldn’t have happened without their understanding and their talent. And finally, we want to thank you, our readers. You have supported us from the very beginning, and we wouldn’t be here without you!

All our love, Victoria and Lee

COOKING FEARLESSLY

Alex Snodgrass and The Defined Dish Months of coronavirus quarantine have forced many of us to cook more. Whether you are a novice cook or a professional chef, staying at home makes cooking and menu planning a necessary survival skill. I enjoy cooking, and one of my favorite things is a recipe that is healthy and relatively easy to make that my whole family will devour. Enter Alex Snodgrass, author of the New York Times bestseller The Defined Dish. Alex’s blog and book have sparked a passion in cooking in many. Not only are her recipes easy to follow, Whole 30-approved, and delicious, but each recipe includes a picture of what you’re making. Although her publisher felt that only about 60% of the recipes needed a photo of the final product, Alex disagreed. “I was like, ‘No, no, no! I don’t put recipes in a cookbook if they don’t have a picture with them.’” Alex said. “I was a blogger before I was an author, and on the blog all of my recipes have a picture… people came to buy my book because they liked my blog. If it’s not an extension of that, why would they want a book version?” About six years ago, Alex and her sister Madison, a personal trainer, teamed up to start a food and fitness blog. After a couple of years, Madison married and stopped the fitness side of the blog.

Alex decided to turn the food side of the blog into a business, and it quickly became a huge success. Growing up in the small town of Celina, Texas, Alex would often help her mother cook “as her little sous chef.” Once she left home to attend Texas Christian University, she says that was when she “truly appreciated a home-cooked meal.” Tired of cafeteria food, she became the friend that loved to cook meals for her friends. She met her husband (and fellow foodie) Clayton at TCU; today they have two girls, seven-year-old Sutton and four-yearold Winnie. In the introduction of The Defined Dish, Alex shares her struggle with postpartum anxiety following the birth of Winnie. She had never experienced anxiety before, and she was open to finding ways to manage it. Her sister Madison had just completed her first Whole 30 program and encouraged Alex to do the same. When Alex had finished the program, she remembers, “I felt the best I had in years and knew I wanted to make this new way of approaching food a part of my everyday life.” She began altering her blog recipes to fit her new way of eating, and people were loving them. Does she still have moments where she indulges? Absolutely! Alex’s mindset is, “Nourish. Not Punish.” In preparing for the interview, I reached out to some friends who are also big fans of Alex’s blog to find out what they wanted to ask Alex. One friend wanted to know if Alex considered herself an introvert or extrovert. If an introvert, how has becoming an “influencer” affected her? Alex laughed and said, “Mostly an introvert! When I started the blog with my sister years ago, social media wasn’t what it is today… I could hide behind the food… [When] Insta-stories came out, that was when my blog really shifted. I had to turn the

by Jennifer Kieta

camera around and share in a different way. It was so weird at first, but I’ve gotten very comfortable with it.” Another friend asked, “What is your dream foodie vacation?” Alex said, “After the success of the book, my husband and I wanted to visit the coasts of France and Spain… specifically, San Sebastian, Spain, known for having the densest amount of Michelin-awarded restaurants in the world. Every big foodie says that’s their favorite spot to eat because it’s a blend of Mediterranean meets French … everything is super fresh, really clean ingredients and done right.” Any new projects on the horizon? “I’d love to start working on another book now that my book tour is over, but right now I am just trying to focus on getting my family into our new home. Then I can start getting into all of that!” In the movie Ratatouille, Chef Gusteau says, “What I say is true – anyone can cook. But only the fearless can be great.” Alex Snodgrass is fearless. She has overcome her fears to bring the joy of cooking back to kitchens around the world. So go forth and cook fearlessly! I promise you will not be disappointed.

photos by Kristen Kilpatrick

photo by Andrea Pitti Photography

not

Glad You’re ^ Here A PA N D E M I C P O S T C A R D F R O M T U S C A N Y

by Shilo Urban Last summer, Christa Riparbelli was living the Italian dream. She had recently moved to Follonica, a sun-dappled town on the coast of Tuscany, and she’d just married a handsome Italian in a beautiful wedding that could rival a Botticelli painting. Little did the newlyweds know that COVID-19 would soon rip into Italy with unspeakable ferocity, changing their lives – and the world – forever. A native Texan, Christa spent several years in Fort Worth studying fashion merchandising at TCU. “I loved the small-town feel and all of the very close friendships I made,” she says. Her family has deep roots in Italy, where many of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents live today. She met

her husband Federico in Italy in 2016, and they were married three years later. But a monster was lurking in the path ahead. “The first thing I remember hearing about the coronavirus was that somehow a virus got out in China, and their whole country was basically closing down,” she recalls. “This virus was spreading like wildfire, and they needed to build more hospitals quickly. I couldn’t believe it.” At the time, the problem seemed far away to Christa – like it did for most of us. “I NEVER thought it would spread to the rest of the world like it has,” she says. “I also didn’t know if I should believe the severity of it; everyone was talking about how it’s probably a political move.” Italy was slow to prepare. “We didn’t have big concerns for it coming here. We lived life as normal. Even when the rest of the world was talking about how bad it was in Italy and spreading rumors – there was a lot of fake news at the beginning. I received so many pictures from friends, of towns here… that showed not one soul. These were all fake pictures at the time...” Misinformation spread even faster than the virus. But soon the empty streets became reality, beginning in Lombardy, about four hours north of Christa. Italian authorities announced a quarantine over much of northern Italy on March 8, but the news leaked out the night before, resulting in a panicked rush on the rail stations. People packed into trains to flee south. “I realized that they were seeing how bad it was with their own eyes, they were scared, and they wanted to leave and go to other parts of Italy they felt were ‘safer,’” she says. “When I saw the pictures of the train station FULL in Milan, we decided to start staying in more ourselves.” Two days later, Italy announced a nationwide lockdown of its 60 million people.

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Businesses were shuttered, including nonessential departments at the public hospital and Federico’s medical clinic, the couple’s sole source of income. “Medical places don’t just close...I knew it was getting really scary and bad,” she says. “I was scared for the country.” Now in quarantine for weeks, Christa has (mostly) adjusted to the new abnormal. “I have surprisingly felt very at peace. I don’t even go to the grocery store; my husband does all of that. I literally have not left the house.” She stays busy cooking and exercising and stays sane by sticking to a schedule. “I try to get somewhat ready daily, which is usually just blow drying my hair and putting on some mascara and getting out of my pajamas! It helps mentally!” Facetime helps her stay connected with her family. Under Italy’s strict lockdown orders, Christa can’t even go for a walk. Police check the documents of anyone outside their home and fine those who break the rules. “We haven’t seen ANY friends or family in weeks,” she says. These strict measures are just what it will take to beat the virus. “Stay put in your own house!!” she implores. “It seems so impossible to stay at home 24/7, but it’s not. We are doing it here.” Although there’s no way of knowing when the pandemic will end, Christa’s hope is unstoppable. “We truly feel like Italy will come out of this stronger than ever,” she says. “[I hope] that it is going to ground all of us and bring us back to what is important in life…to teach all of us the importance of family time, of slowing down and appreciating what we have.” Facing a crisis like the coronavirus is no honeymoon, but for Christa and Federico, life goes on. “We will all come out of it, if everyone does their part…Until a vaccine or cure is created, we all need to take care of each other,” says Christa. “Don’t lose hope!”

CLINTON PENDERY’S CHILI Since Fort Worth-based Pendery’s World of Chiles & Spice invented what we now know as “chili powder,” it makes sense that the Pendery family would make a world-class chili. This recipe is amazingly flavorful and makes enough to freeze for another meal!

ingredients 6 ancho chile pods, stem, veins, and seeds discarded, 2 heads fresh garlic, cloves peeled and sliced ½ tablespoon salt, or more to taste 24 level tablespoons (1 ½ cups) Pendery’s Top Hat Chile Blend ¼ teaspoon ground cumin 6 pounds lean chuck, ground at a ¾ inch grind (you can ask the butcher to do this for you)

Boiling water – keep a large pot of boiling water on hand throughout the cooking

FR OM FOR T WOR TH'S FOOD MASTERS

directions Place the ground meat into a large, heavy Dutch oven and add just enough boiling water to cover. Bring the pot to just boiling and then reduce to a simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Skim the fat that floats to the surface. Add in the garlic and ancho pods and continue to simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the garlic is tender and the ancho chile meat has separated from the skins, which you should remove and discard.

MAMA’S GUACAMOLE FROM LA PLAYA MAYA

Slowly add in the salt, Top Hat Chile Blend, and cumin, stirring constantly. Simmer for about 20 more minutes, adding more water if the chili is too thick. Flour may be added if the chili is too thin.

This fresh and easy guacamole from Fort Worth favorite La Playa Maya is so yummy. Full of healthy ingredients, it’s something to keep on hand for both meals and snacks!

Clint Pendery’s Hints Whole seasonings go into the dish early, while ground seasonings are added later.

ingredients 3 ripe avocados 1 ounce chopped red onion

The flavor of the chili will be better the next day.

2 ounces chopped fresh tomatoes ½ ounce chopped fresh jalapeño ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro Juice of half a lemon 1 fluid ounce olive oil Salt and granulated garlic to taste

TEA-MOSAS FROM L EAVES directions Cut the avocados in half, take out the seed, and discard. Spoon out the avocado meat and place in a large, nonreactive mixing bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork or a potato masher into a semi-smooth paste. Fold in the onion, tomatoes, jalapeño, cilantro, and lemon juice. Finish by adding the olive oil, salt, and granulated garlic to taste.

This is a delicious and refreshing drink that’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, or just about any time you want!

ingredients 6 ounces sparkling cranberry sencha tea from Leaves (available for curbside pickup in growlers) 2 ounces orange or orange-mango juice Quarter of an orange slice for garnish directions Pour the orange or orangemango juice into a champagne flute and top with the sparkling tea. Garnish with the orange slice.

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While the global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought darkness, worries, unprecedented stress for healthcare workers and first responders, toilet paper shortages, and food rushes at every grocery store in town, it has also brought out light, love, and kindness in our beloved city. While families learn how to juggle working from home while homeschooling their children, people all over Fort Worth are stepping up to find creative and impactful ways to help others. Restaurants all over town have been hit hard. However, many have found ways to rise to the occasion and help those in need. From deliveries to hospitals to packaging affordable ready-to-go meals for families, they have shifted their focus. Melt Ice Creams launched “Happiness for Heroes.” Customers purchase discounted scoops of ice cream online which Melt delivers to healthcare workers. FunkyTown Donuts shared that a group of friends purchased 360 donuts and 360 donut holes to be delivered to local hospitals. Downtown stalwart Reata has been paying servers to work at the food bank, as well as making sure that employees’ families are fed. In addition, owner Mike Micallef donated meals to 175 Fort Worth police officers. Chef Tim Love closed 14 of his restaurants and is serving free meals for anyone who has been laid off or is simply in need of a hot meal. Longtime favorite The Lunch Box serves box lunches every weekday to those in need. With the new magical margarita delivery option, Joe T. Garcia’s has been staying busy, but they are also feeding our local emergency room doctors and nurses who have given so much of their talent and energy to keep our city healthy and safe. Some of the most impactful outside-of-the-box ideas are coming out of local distilleries like Blackland Distillery, Acre Distilling, and Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co. These Fort Worth companies pivoted from distilling award-winning liquors to producing hand sanitizer in order to donate this much-needed liquid gold to the medical community. Many members of the Tanglewood Moms Facebook group are sewing and donating face masks to our local healthcare workers. Shannon Hart, Jessi O’Connor, and Bree Linne have joined this effort, with major props going to thirteen-year-old Haley Hooper, who has sewn over 50 masks to donate to patients at Cook Children’s, Texas Oncology, and supported living centers. Other members, like Jami Layman Alkhayer, have purchased gift cards from struggling local businesses to donate them to families in need. In addition, the countless mom-to-mom posts in the Facebook group offering homeschooling resources, links, and advice for navigating this new adventure with our quarantined and oh-so bored children provide invaluable reassurance and comfort. Drive through any Fort Worth neighborhood, and you will see chalk art showing what neighbors are thankful for scattered along the sidewalks. Neighbors like Kathryn Perry and her family in Mistletoe Heights have been taking their traveling family orchestra (better known to neighbors as “The Band Perry”) around to their senior neighbors to play a few songs for them from the sidewalk. Christmas lights have been hung to cheer up littles on a car ride, stuffed bears peek through countless windows so children can go on a “bear hunt,” and neighborhoods are posting outdoor scavenger hunts the whole family can participate in while socially isolating. Local photographers are offering front porch photo sessions. Families can choose a specific time during the day to have a photographer come by and photograph the family in their quarantine best from a safe distance away. Many photographers donate the proceeds from these sessions to local charities. Keller-based Chelsea Davis Photography, for example, chose to donate to the Tarrant Area Food Bank. The United Way of Fort Worth, Hear Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Film Commission, and Visit Fort Worth have partnered to launch a creative industry relief fund to help support actors, musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers who have lost work. Coffee shops and restaurants like Avoca Coffee Roasters and Twilite Lounge have virtual tip jars for their employees. Countless local musicians are playing virtual live concerts and are asking for donations for local charities in need. The heart and soul of Fort Worth is its people. These are unprecedented and scary times, but if you look for the good, you will see it everywhere. There are random acts of kindness happening all over our city, and it’s comforting to know that not only are we all in this together but that we will come out of this stronger and more tightly-knit than ever before.

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Bottom Blossoms & the Candle of Learning: A Working Mother Homeschools This article was originally supposed to be about introducing my 12-yearold to New York City and Broadway for the first time. That trip was scheduled for June. I wanted to write about what it means for an actor mama to show her offspring her theatrical Mecca, waxing poetic about how the mystique of the Big Apple amplifies when we share it with kids. Right now, however, New York City is a pretty desperate place.

by Julie Rhodes

curious if he was allowed to “drink water” during Quiet Time. I said he could, although it wasn’t technically part of his COVID-19 DAILY SCHEDULE. Of the all hilarious memes I’ve come across during this bizarre moment in history, a sincere and rather beautiful one caught my eye. “Parents: what we are being asked to do is not humanly possible. There is a reason we are either a working parent, a stay-at home parent, or a parttime working parent. Working, parenting, and teaching are three different jobs that cannot be done at the same time. It’s not hard because you are doing it wrong. It’s hard because it’s too much. Do the best you can. When you have to pick, choose connection.” (Emily W. King, Ph.D)

The trip has been cancelled. My acting work is on hold, and so many of my theater friends are struggling. Thankfully, though, I’m still a mama. And I’m homeschooling. I have gone from audition-prepping, show rehearsing, and performing to overseeing lowest common denominators and dividing numerators. I’m sure you’ve also been re-purposed in a lot of ways that clash with your operating instructions.

The time will come when I’m back on the stage with my friends pursuing this art form we love so much. I know New York City will come back in a big way, bright with million-light marquees, and that I’ll get to cross the thresholds of the Lyceum or the Nederlander or the New Amsterdam with Drew and watch him get all shiny with magic. We’ll all get back to a more honored version of normal that will, God-willing, include deeper affection and respect. If we haven’t done a lot of murdering by then. I kid. Sort of.

Before the school district came out with the guidelines and reassurances, the learning-at-home thing was a wheels-off effort. For us, it started with a spider. My nine-year-old daughter Madeline and I had just seen Little Women, and the first day of isolation, she came to me flushed with excitement, shrieking breathlessly, “Let’s homeschool in the ATTIC!” I knew this would not work because I do not have Saoirse Ronan’s hair nor her military jacket. Nor do I homeschool, which bears repeating.

“You are much smarter than I remember,” Drew told me as I was in the midst of teaching him how multiply fractions. The Candle of Learning was glowing on the counter like a baby lighthouse. “I haven’t seen it in a long time,” he added.

We pulled the cord of the fold-down stairs in the hallway, inhaling flurries of insulation, and climbed unsteadily to the landing where a three-foot foam tarantula and adult skeleton were resting comfortably. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t materialize. However, I did come up with another idea for us however that was very holy and felt 1860s-enough, and that was to light a candle at the beginning of each day. We call it the Candle of Learning, and it has become an important ritual to the three of us, even if all it illuminates is the Minecraft screen.

You know what? I took that as a compliment. Wherever your lives are when you read this, I hope we’re all healthy. I hope we haven’t lost those we love. I hope we’ll have clearer eyes for seeing new and noble things — in each other, in ourselves, and in every Bottom Blossom.

In theory, I should have some genetic strengths in the homeschooling arena, given that my own mother bore five children and educated them all at home from 1987 through 2003, when homeschooling was still a fringe anomaly. (Homeschool Bonus: none of the McQuitty kids are currently incarcerated, and one of us is a missionary!) I have every possible advantage, thank God — a college education, a personal background in homeschooling, plus enough financial security to be able to re-direct my focus in a bigger way than a lot of people I know. I have no reason not to be Marmee-Except-with-AirConditioning-and-Half-the-Number-of-Kids. Honestly, the pressure might kill me. After our failed foray into the attic, we set up shop in the kitchen, with a “COVID-19 DAILY SCHEDULE” taped to the refrigerator. A rogue mom on Facebook had cranked it out like some sort of emergency protocol, and my 12-year-old son Drew printed it off himself and mounted it where it could be seen, because he apparently plans to rule a small Baltic state with an iron fist someday. The first day, according to our COVID-19 DAILY SCHEDULE, we took a walk at 9 am. I found an excessive amount of satisfaction teaching Maddie and Drew the names of the trees. Oak, crepe myrtle, Bradford pear, pecan, magnolia… Those are the five trees I know, so I pointed them out. I also pointed out monkey grass and St. Augustine, because those are the grasses I know. Hawthorne and azaleas and holly are the bushes I know. I quickly learned Madeline was somehow under the impression that magnolia trees are called “Bottom Blossoms.” It took until Friday to iron that crease out of her brain. Another vocab word we learned on that walk was “cleavage,” though I can’t remember why. It was becoming clear this was to be a very organic process.

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A friend’s kindergarten son told her he was excited to be homeschooled because he “gets to poop.” He doesn’t like pooping at school. My children are also taking full advantage of this newfound liberty, but it hasn’t really affected the COVID-19 DAILY SCHEDULE in any meaningful way. Solve the Dream Bed Maze and Receive an Additional

The boldest, most swashbuckling segment of the COVID-19 DAILY SCHEDULE is Quiet Time for an hour and a half in the afternoon. I took a cue from an actual homeschooling mom friend who tells her kids they are not to disturb her during quiet time unless they are bleeding in a mortal way. If they have a question during quiet time, they may write it down and she will address all questions at the end. Don’t you just want to stand up and applaud this? When I presented these requirements to my kids, Drew was

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BECOM I NG

(and embracing)

story and photos by Jodie Miears

am a small business owner. I find purpose and joy in my work. And I hate the coronavirus. The coronavirus is taking lives. It’s taking the world as we know it and flipping it on its head. It’s sending some people into a hoarding frenzy and sending others into a black depression. It’s taking people’s jobs and sending healthcare workers onto the front lines of a battlefield without the proper equipment. For me, it shut down my photography business. Getting used to having no real work right now has been a shock to my system. I quickly learned that a photographer is not essential. I know that being nonessential means that I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t have to put my life and the lives of my loved ones on the line, and trust me, I am grateful for that. But I’m not going to lie – the realization that I’m “nonessential” was a punch in the gut. Accepting the fact that the business I busted my behind to build is now shut down has been a difficult pill to swallow. I poured my heart and soul into building relationships with my customers. To sit helplessly and watch it all come to a screeching halt has been surreal and painful. In all my sudden spare time, I can’t help but wonder how life will be when things get back to “normal.” Will life ever be normal again? And when? How long is this really going to go on? There are so many questions that are going unanswered right now. At first, I did what I felt like I needed to do: I let myself mourn. I let myself mourn for my business. I let myself mourn for all the people getting sick with this horrible virus. I let myself mourn for the healthcare workers who have to quarantine themselves from their families to treat ours. I let myself mourn missing friends, family, and vacations. I let myself mourn all the friends losing their jobs. I let myself mourn the children who don’t understand why they can’t see their friends and teachers and grandparents right now. I mourned, and I was unapologetic about it. I did this to get it out of the way, because I knew that soon I would need to pick myself up and get back on my feet with a clear head and a new plan for how to be there for my family in the best way I can be right. Early into this “new normal,” I heard someone say it’s like we were all put in a giant time out. For a lot of us, that’s exactly what this feels like. And we can either choose to live in denial over it, or we can take these lemons and try to make some lemonade or even a dang good French 75. The opportunities are there. This could look like teaching your kids new skills, building gardens, or improving your home. Maybe this is a time when you can work on building healthier self-care habits that you can continue once this is over. I think this is a great time to focus on others.

photos by Shannon Lange

Focusing on others always gets me outside of my own head, feelings, and yes, self-pity, and it makes me feel more grateful and fulfilled. *** In adapting to this strange new normal, I realized one of the first things was let go of the word “should.” I kept lamenting “we should be going on this trip right now,” or “I should be out with soand-so doing this today.” But “should” is unhelpful in a world like this new one I find myself in. So I stopped saying it. In doing that, I took this phrase to heart: Do what you can with what you have wherever you are. With that as my new mantra, I set out to let go of what “should” be happening to focus on what was right in front of me. There are some habits I’m trying to cultivate in my new role of whatever-theheck-my-new-title-is. (I’m calling myself a teacher/ farmer/mixologist.) I am listening and validating. This time is a rollercoaster for everyone. I’ve noticed that my six-year-old daughter, like all of us, is having good days and not-as-good days. At times, she seems totally content, and other times I can tell that she’s struggling with trying to make sense of all of this and understand when she can resume her normal life again. On rough days, my daughter will ask out of the blue, “Can you hold me please?” or “Mommy, can you read me a story?” I am not assuming this is just boredom speaking. I am hearing this as a child’s way of saying she feels sad, lonely, or anxious and needs some extra attention to cope with these big emotions. When she asks questions about the coronavirus or if our loved ones will get sick, I try to give her honest, age-appropriate answers and then talk through how she feels. If I can see that she’s having a hard time expressing something, I may say “Is that sad to think about?” or “Do you feel disappointed?” Then I follow up by telling her that it’s disappointing for me too BUT that the good news is that this is temporary. Someday we will get to see our friends again and hug them and do all the fun things we used to do. You can see a little flood of relief wash over her face just at having been heard and having her feelings validated. I am focusing on teaching my daughter character. Spend any amount of time with someone, and you are bound to see their flaws. Are you noticing some traits in your kids that you don’t love? Repeat after me: this is a teachable moment. I don’t mean scream at them every time they forget to use their manners or make them feel

guilty when they leave their wet towel on the floor. Use this time at home to teach them some better routines. This is THE time to work on breaking old habits and forming new ones. Don’t just focus on others’ character. Spend some time reflecting on things you can improve about yourself. I’m a workaholic. I fully admit that. It’s easy for me to get laser-focused and completely wrapped up in my work and my goals and my never-ending to-do list. Now I’m focusing on being more present, limiting my screen time to certain times of day, and shifting my focus completely off work and on to my family. I’m also looking for opportunities to show more personal, selfless support to others or simply send a little happiness in a friend’s direction. When else am I going to have such a perfect opportunity to really focus on this? I don’t want to get to the end of enforced shutdown and realize I only worked on things that will benefit myself. I am looking for the opportunities. When I started looking around for things to do, it didn’t take long to see all the opportunities. Right now, my family is focusing on lots of outdoor time, creativity in the kitchen, and the arts. It feels like stepping back into a simpler time, and I must admit that although I miss my friends, my family, and my clients, I am soaking up living in a more simplistic manner. My head feels clearer, I feel naturally more present, and my daughter is enjoying all the activities we’re doing together. We go exploring every day. There’s something very healing about getting outside. We take walks in our backyard and look for birds’ nests, new flowers popping up, and snails and ladybugs. Just being outside lifts our moods tremendously. We’ve also become huge fans of scavenger hunts. (Thank goodness for Pinterest; it’s chock-full of ideas for a newly-present mom!) After talking about it but never doing it, our family finally had the time to build a vegetable garden. In the last week of March, we planted the garden, and we’re stunned at how quickly things are growing. It’s wonderful to look forward to seeing the changes every day. We water and check for new growth. This summer, we’ll harvest the peppers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, strawberries, and herbs we planted during the height of the coronavirus uncertainty. With the garden came the chickens. My husband has been wanting them for some time, and I finally caved. We got eight baby chicks, and he’s built a custom coop for them. They are so cute, and our daughter loves going to talk and snuggle them. We have a piano that hasn’t been played in years. Now my husband is giving our daughter lessons when he takes a break from his work during the day, and it’s a great replacement for music class. We also make art and create crafts. It’s 13

a wonderful way for children to express themselves and give a parent a little break, if needed. The art of handwritten letters feels lost, doesn’t it? When I was small, I would write to my friends when I was bored, and I still love getting a handwritten note in the mail. My daughter and I try to write someone every week – a grandparent, a cousin, a friend. It’s a sweet, simple way to send cheer to someone who might need it. I quickly came to the realization that this is the perfect time to mix things up in the kitchen. We have baked cookies and cakes, and we’ve tried new recipes. Some are winners and some are not-so-winning, but we’re adding to our repertoire of family meals. I’ve also become quite the mixologist, if I do say so myself, and I’m looking forward to the day when I can invite friends over again and share some of these new creations with them. My family used all these new-found skills and habits recently when we had a family date night. We got dressed up like we would if we were really going out on the town. We cooked a delicious dinner and ate it together on our patio. We then retired to the living room, which we had turned into a movie theater, complete with popcorn and candy, and watched Trolls World Tour. No phones or tablets were allowed! *** I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I know that there is nothing that can turn a global pandemic into something fun or productive. There are people dying from COVID-19 every day, and it will be a long time before the coronavirus burns itself out. The global economy will take years to restart. Our world is going to be significantly changed by this disease. But… For those fortunate enough to ride this storm out in the safety of their homes, the pandemic gives us the time for making memories, for starting new traditions, for (re)learning to use what we have, and for making the most of this time together. Not everyone will start a garden or buy chickens or have cheesy date nights like we do, but I hope you will remember this: at the end of the day, we will all want to look back at this time and be proud of the way we spent it. I want my daughter to remember this time not as the scary time that the world shut down because of a virus but as the time that she learned how to care for animals and write letters and send cheer to her friends and simply be with her family. The coronavirus pandemic has actually given us a gift. We have the time to become the person we think we “should” be.

photos by Angie Garcia Photo

by Jackie Elliott

FASHION MAVERICK

brings the runway TO COWTOWN Philip Maximilian isn’t your run-of-the-mill, block pattern designer. He’s the man with a plan to take Fort Worth’s fashion scene from overlooked to optimistic. As the founder and designer of Mener Grand Train Co., a bespoke menswear business, Maximilian spent the last few years building a business for himself while keeping his dream of cultivating a prominent Fort Worth fashion scene within a flap pocket’s reach. “We have a vision for a Fort Worth Fashion Week (FWFW),” said Maximilian. “We want to have more awareness for fashion in Fort Worth. We know there’s fashion here, but compared to others… the music scene or the art scene… there isn’t something that’s managed to function as a unit as well as those other scenes. That’s what Fort Worth Fashion Week will be.” Maximilian and his organizing partners are planning a range of events to take place throughout the year. This summer, FWFW hopes to hold a launch party that will be, as Maximilian puts it, “Big. Real big.” After the summer launch, the organization will host a series of pop-ups, parties, and runway shows, culminating in Fort Worth’s inaugural fashion show in winter 2020 or early spring 2021. Guests will be able to buy new styles right off the rack at some events or special order the latest looks at others--dependent on the designer’s stock and production timeline. Though it’s too soon to release any designer line-up lists yet, Maximilian guarantees that a range of abilities will be represented. “We’re going to pick the [designers] who are already established and fresh-out-of-school students, the ones who need a voice.” Maximilian said. He identifies closely with many fledgling designers looking to take their first leap into the industry but needing a platform from which they can spring forth. Maximilian wasn’t always the sleek and chic suit designer leaning on a successful niche business. In high school, he found himself humbly sporting only a few casual outfit combinations: five T-shirts, three pairs of jeans, and two pairs of shoes--one pair for running and one pair for daily wear. It wasn’t that Maximilian wasn’t interested in fashion at the time; he vividly recalls looking up to the “cool kids” who could afford any look they lusted after. His journey to new fashionable heights began, of all places, in an automotive shop. “Coming from a background of being first-generation Laotian [American], we had to build a life here.” Maximilian said of his immigrant roots and entrepreneurial background. His family’s businesses kept him moving around frequently, always looking for the next opportunity or business venture. In fact, right after high school ended, Maximilian became an automotive technician at a local Ford dealership in preparation for opening his own automotive repair business soon after.

Three years into running his own business, Maximilian found himself with enough financial cushion to indulge in the finest of finery. A love of rich fabrics and his affinity for couture took hold, and he started sharing his new threads on Instagram, where he received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. “It all kind of started from there.” said Maximilian. “I never imagined I’d take fashion this far.” After enrolling in classes at Petit Atelier, a fashion studio and sewing lounge in Dallas, Maximilian found a love of bespoke clothing, the highly personalized craft of cutting a suit or other article of clothing to the unique proportions of the person who will wear it. At first, Maximilian sold his one-of-a-kind suits for as little as $800 as he learned the craft. Now, having mastered the bespoken tradition, his suits run almost on par with, but not quite, higher end examples that range from $3500-$5500. Having gone from fashion underdog to local fashion icon, there’s no doubt that Maximilian has an eye for the next big thing. We couldn’t help but ask him about trends he sees coming into fuller view in the next year or so. “More formal is going to be coming back--as in women wearing double-breasted jackets and skirts or guys making [suits] more vibrant and flamboyant--pairing more with sneakers.” he said. “In my vision, everything old style is coming back.” Maximilian is also sure that collected-look chic will continue to thrive in society for a while. He shared that although thrift-store style was hardly in vogue a decade ago, it’s since become inspirational to generations young and old. “It’s not about going to a thrift store because you can’t afford retail.” said Maximilian, who laughed as he shared that he’s seen thrift store t-shirts sell for up to $200 in some places or a pair of vintage Levi’s go for up to $2000. “I’ve been thrifting for a long time, and I can tell you that a lot of nice styles are inspired by old trends.” If you loathe the ‘80s and ‘70s styles that have forced themselves back into focus, you may be out of luck for a few years. Maximilian thinks that the youngest fashionistas will take these looks to a new level soon. In the near future, he thinks it’s possible that even men will be wearing jaguar leggings with Def Leppard shirts or cut-off tank tops. If that thought makes you cringe, Maximilian reminds us to live and let live. Or rather, dress and leave well enough alone in their dressing. “Everybody has their own style. You’ve got to be open to that.” he said. Fort Worth has a style all its own, too, Maximilian thinks. What he loves most about this side of the Metroplex is that the sense of community invoked here. “We support each other in every way and we’re not [a] saturated [market].” he said. “What’s different here is that we’re incorporating everybody… We’re not going to base ourselves in a high fashion standard yet, but we’re going to be bringing the best quality styles and working with the best people we can.”

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PENDERY'S SPICES, A Recipe for Success

The oldest family-owned business in Texas is located in (arguably) the best city in the state. Pendery’s World of Chilis & Spices has been sourcing, packaging, and distributing the finest spices in the world — from cilantro powder to Beadie’s Bloody Mary Mix to Dad’s Oven Smoked Rub – for almost two centuries. But this Fort Worth fixture, recently declared a Texas Treasure by the Texas State Legislature, is best known for its chili blends. After all, the company invented chili powder, a claim that’s as firmly staked in the ground as the Pendery family’s Fort Worth heritage. That rich heritage began the day DeWitt Clinton Pendery rolled into Cowtown from Cincinnati on a horse-drawn stagecoach in 1870. Today, the 175-year-old company has a retail store located in Near Southside and an e-commerce site that is patronized by serious chefs and aspiring cooks around the globe.

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Madeworthy Magazine talked with fifth-generation owner and general manager Clint Haggerty about family, business, and his spice for life.

Madeworthy (MW): What are the health benefits of chilis?

MW: What should families cook now?

Clint Haggerty (CH): It’s all about a well-balanced diet and eating right. There’s the low-carb diet, which I like. People have a vegetarian diet, too. But no matter which diet you pick, spices can be a big component of that. It improves the flavor of whatever you’re eating. Some of the earliest trading commodities ever were salt and pepper. Adding flavor to food is one of the first trades that ever existed.

CH: Start off with what your family enjoys eating. The whole thing about cooking is the social interaction. That’s what we’re missing right now. When families get together, they eat. What’s your comfort food? What do you and your family enjoy? It doesn’t matter if your cooking skills aren’t the best… Right now, people have a lot more time on their hands than they normally do. Maybe try a family tamale recipe? Or maybe this is a great time to try an old recipe that you’ve always wanted to cook.

MW: What’s your “why?” CH: I’m the fifth generation. It’s almost kind of a birthright; it’s a family legacy… We hope to have something to pass on to future family members. We appreciate and depend on our customers to provide quality goods and service they expect from us. MW: What are some challenges you’ve had to overcome as a business? CH: You have to continually reinvent yourself. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The internet came out, and now we have to compete against giants like Amazon. DeWitt Clinton Pendery had a [printed] circular he sent to the stagecoach lines. It’s different but the same. We were around when they invented electricity. [We] used to have these big chili chopping machines. That was all brand new; it had been operated manually. There was always something worse before — and there was always a family member who overcame the challenge. That gives me the confidence to overcome the challenges of today and persevere. MW: What’s your role in the local restaurant community? CH: We do a lot of wholesale for local restaurants and sell to Ben E. Keith. Restaurants are depending on us to do our part during the COVID-19 crisis. We were around for the Civil War and the Spanish flu. If a family can survive through all that, we will definitely pick ourselves up now, too. photo courtesy of Pendery’s Spices

MW: What’s your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? CH: Pursue what you have a passion for. We’ve been around so long it gives us perspective. Nothing is easy, and success doesn’t usually come quickly. It’s day-to-day diligence and attention to detail, plus flat-out hard work. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. MW: What’s it like working with family? CH: On the plus side, you have the commitment of the family. There are bonds much greater than normal business relationships. At the same time, if you want to have a parting of ways, it adds greater stress. Generational ownership transfer can be hard. It really depends on the individual family dynamic. It can be as strong or weak as the individual family members involved. But as long as you have an underlying respect for each other, a family business has a certain cohesion. It drives you in dire times to put in the extra effort.

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Life is famous for throwing us curveballs. The unexpected curveball is one of the few things we can count on. While a global curveball is rare, dealing with a personal one in the middle of a pandemic might just be the ultimate curveball. Several months before we were aware of the coming coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Kristen Adams got the curveball of her life. While all our lives have changed drastically, most haven’t changed as much as hers. The daughter of two Fort Worth natives, Dr. Adams was born in North Carolina while her father was finishing a graduate program. After which the family moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico – quite a change from Fort Worth – where her father worked as a nuclear physicist and her mother as an elementary school teaching assistant. Having spent most of her childhood vacations visiting family in Fort Worth, Dr. Adams said it has always felt like home. During college, Fort Worth became home when she moved here to help take care of her ailing grandmother. Dr. Adams studied art history in college and was able to study abroad. However, her goal has always been to work in education, so after school, Dr. Adams worked as a transition teacher in public schools, getting students transitioned back into regular classrooms, and she developed a life skills classroom at a new intermediate school. At the same time, she began work on her master’s degree in both special education and administration. “In 2001, I took a position at the KinderFrogs School [at Texas Christian University] which changed my life. I was welcomed into the Down’s syndrome community. I discovered a capacity for learning in this population that I had never known was there.” Shortly thereafter, Dr. Adams began developing strong relationships with TCU’s Starpoint School, a laboratory school for students with learning differences. Those relationships grew over the years, and last year, she was appointed the Interim Assistant Director of Starpoint and shortly thereafter, the Director and Jean W. Roach Chair of Laboratory Schools at Texas Christian University. The parents of Starpoint students are vocal and enthusiastic supporters of Dr. Adams. Starpoint parent Shannon Lange said, “She stood at the front door of school and learned every child’s name within days of school starting... [and] cared enough to sit with me for three hours to discuss plans and expectations before school even started. She removes tension and unease with her presence and the mood of the entire school feels elevated in her wake. She is positivity and kindness and I absolutely love her.” In her new position at Starpoint and with the strong backing of Starpoint parents, 2019 was certainly going Dr. Adams’ way. Another parent, Christen Gullatt, said of her administration, “Dr. Adams’ empathetic nature casts a sense of calm over the entire school… She is a shining star, and we are forever grateful for her guidance, leadership and support.” High praise, indeed. Then came the curveball.

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“I was diagnosed just before Thanksgiving, and while it came as a shock, I knew something had been wrong,” said Adams. “Hearing I had pancreatic cancer knocked me back a bit and caused me to really re-evaluate my goals. A diagnosis like this makes you focus quickly on what time you may have left. You suddenly realize all you planned to do you may not accomplish. There are feelings of frustration and hurt and ‘why me.’ The prognosis is not ideal, but I plan to make the most impact I can with the time I have here.” While she is unable to work, Dr. Adams is keeping up with the goings-on at Starpoint, “but I dearly miss the day-to-day interactions; there simply is no replacement for that. I would hope to return to work in some capacity, but that remains to be seen.” Dr. Adams describes the support she has received as “unimaginable.” Starpoint families have provided meals and in-home help. They have taken Dr. Adams to chemotherapy appointments and stayed with her when she has needed to be in the hospital. Having to deal now with the coronavirus pandemic on top of her battle with cancer just adds insult to injury. “It is heartbreaking and frustrating not to be able to go to the school or meet face-to-face with my colleagues,” said Adams. “The worst part of course is not seeing or talking with the children. Hopefully, this [pandemic] will reach a resolution soon. But until then, know that Starpoint and Kinder Frogs will continue on.”

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Founded in April 2019, Band of Barrows was established to enrich young peoples’ lives and futures by funding junior barrow (pig) sales at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo each year. Founders Whitney Cardwell, Margaret “Missy” Crosby, and Janie VanZandt agreed there was a specific need to support the barrow exhibitors for their hard work. Each founder comes from a different background, but each appreciates the time and effort kids put into their projects and shares a true passion for supporting the junior exhibitors as well as a fondness for pigs. Members are men and women from a variety of backgrounds ranging from executives to retirees, each with the common desire to enrich young people’s futures.

With all the uncertainty of the current time, Amy Shackelford of PalmWood Event & Conference Center has been working to provide relevant and helpful content to brides and their families over the Internet, via blogs and video content. During the city’s shelter in place order, it is even more necessary to provide guidance to brides and grooms. PalmWood’s events team has over 60 years of combined experience in the wedding industry. Amy hopes that making their experience and expert knowledge accessible to bridal parties will bring welcome relief and aid during this critical time.

Local entrepreneur Shawna Duckworth, owner of Volare, sent us this for this issue of Fort Worthies: “Now is the time to show our sincere gratitude for everyone helping us through this extraordinary time. Essential personnel are keeping us strong, helping my small businesses and others stay alive! To all the delivery drivers out there that are working so the rest of us can stay safe and healthy, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Give back to all the essential workers that you encounter; they need us right now. Shop locally, eat curbside, and give back to the community, so we can have one when this is all over!”

photo courtesy of FWCD

As the Sunflower Shoppe celebrates 50 years of helping Fort Worth stay healthy, co-owner Erika McCarthy wants to reassure customers that they stand ready to meet the needs of loyal customers with messages, action, and reassurance that the Sunflower Shoppe is open and ready to help. Online shopping, curbside pickup, and stringent sanitizing and social distancing protocols are in place. Videos and podcasts center on hot topics such as the immune system and the effects of stress. In addition to helping their customers, the stores are supporting the Union Gospel Mission and G.R.A.C.E., whose urgent needs have spiked due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the Donate a Dollar Campaign.

Johnny and Becky Mazon are thrilled to announce the opening of the second location of their wildly popular i Fratelli Pizza. Their first location on 8th Avenue is near TCU and was an instant favorite in the neighborhood. The second location is at SW Loop 820 and Bryant Irvin and serves southwest Fort Worth. In addition to offering some of the best pizza around, the Mazons are proud to share the profit with local charity organizations such as Special Olympics, Texas Cares, and the Innocence Project through weekly Doughnation fundraisers.

In honor of Fort Worth Country Day School’s Founders’ Day on March 6, the school community collected donations to benefit four local nonprofits, including The Saving Hope Foundation, Breakthrough Fort Worth, Como Community Center, and ACH Child and Family Services. “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The Fort Worth Country Day community has a true, genuine spirit of generosity…” says Eric Lombardi, Head of School. “… our teachers, students, and administration are banding together to lend a helping hand to those in need during this time of great uncertainty.”

Dr. Mitch Conditt would like to share some advice for our readers with obstructive sleep apnea during the coronavirus pandemic. There is concern that the use of a CPAP machine might create unwanted aerosols and spread the virus, if present. Dr. Conditt believes that it especially important that the use of a CPAP be continued as recommended. If you have been exposed and use a CPAP machine, Dr. Conditt recommends sleeping in a separate room with your CPAP machine or see him about getting a custom oral appliance that can be worn while asleep. But don’t stop your apnea treatment!

From a very young age, Rendee Hahnfield has been passionate about serving her community. She attributes this passion to her mother, who, incidentally, co-founded Ren’s flagship business: GO Cowtown Group. The Group specializes in providing their clients a concierge lifestyle service, or, as Ren says, “Gifting people their time back.” Providing everything from errand running to care giving, virtual administrative work to contractor management, Go Cowtown Group has been recognized as an essential service provider during the city’s stay at home order. All in-home services are performed in compliance with CDC and local health authority guidelines. It’s reassuring to have these experts around to keep us GOing.

The Mattress Factory has been a Fort Worth tradition since 1896, when Harry Keeton, Sr., began selling mattress supplies. Today, Peter Duncan makes sure that The Mattress Factory gives back to the city where it started. The Mattress Factory has been donating beds to safe houses in Fort Worth for victims of human trafficking. And now, they are building mattresses at cost so that the City of Fort Worth can get the homeless, vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, into government housing. “Fort Worth has been good to our family for five generations,” Duncan said, “and we enjoy serving our community.”

photo courtesy of Saddleback Leather Co. After more than two decades creating the highest quality and longest-lasting leather products on the planet, Saddleback Leather Co. has stopped producing bags and briefcases. Owners Suzette and David Munson have shifted their entire production into medical personal protection equipment. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a lack of PPEs for healthcare workers, so Saddleback Leather is now sewing medical gowns. The gowns have been clinically approved and will help ease the need in hospitals around the country. “I don’t think when I die I’m going to regret helping other people,” Suzette said. “This is who we are. It’s our heart.”

In these uncertain times, many business owners and leaders are drowning, stressed, and alone. One Fort Worthian is on a quest to change that. Logan Speights has created Proxxy, a servant leadership approach to business. Staff are trained to support top SMB executives with strategic counsel, as well as administrative support. This leads not only to quantifiable results, but also work-life balance. The executives who are leveraging Proxxy have been able to dramatically improve their investor relations, internal culture, and client satisfaction, and Proxxy isn’t stopping there. The next phase will kick off the talent supply chain, allowing underutilized workers to grow into executives. 18

With the uncertainty of the financial markets, Edward Jones financial advisor Michelle Willingham is working to make sure her clients’ financial futures are safe. “With the market decline, people will be tempted to change their investment strategies. But they need to keep in mind that most of their financial goals… are long term in nature.” While we are in uncharted waters, the temptation to panic should be fought. “All our emotions are running high right now… the best thing all of us can do is look past short-term downturns… to keep investing in all types of markets.”

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KEY

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GYMNASTICS CAMPS

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9700 Saints Circle | Fort Worth, Texas 76108 817.560.5700

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